Foxhound Chapter 1: Part 4
Dark red chakra erupted from Naruto’s body. The wound at his side stopped bleeding and began to close. Oddly, his features remained unchanged. It seemed as though the Kyuubi had only given him a chakra boost, rather than the higher level body altering. No real matter. If he wasn’t exhausted to begin with, he wouldn’t have been stuck on the defensive the whole time. Naruto’s opponent was already sending another blade at him, only now it was moving slower to the genin’s eyes. With a chakra powered jump, the boy leapt up, ran across the top of the blade, and hit the ground running on the other side. In an instant, he was on top of his enemy. Though the missing-nin was now forced into close range combat, he actually seemed pleased for some reason.
‘Ha! ‘Bout time brat. I expected you to use it sooner, bu-’
The man’s thoughts broke off as he watched Naruto form a Rasengan with one hand. It was twice as large as a normal Rasengan and was the same dark red as the swirling aura covering the boy’s body. Tsurugi cursed, knowing there was hardly anyone on the planet, even in Akatsuki, who could survive a direct blow from that thing. He ran his palm along his own blade and began gathering chakra into the pooling blood. Naruto rushed him, his blue eyes seeming to glow with demonic fury. Tsurugi brought his blade to bear as an impromptu shield against the boy’s jutsu, even as the chakra in his free hand molded into a dark sigil of some sort.
The Dark Rasengan slammed into the carbon-steel of the sword, immediately drilling into it. The massive blade held for an instant, then it was torn apart with a hideous metallic shrieking noise. The pieces were flung in all directions as semi-molten globs. It didn’t matter to Tsurugi. The sword had done its job of interrupting the vessel’s attack long enough for the missing-nin to counter. As the man swept his hand in to attack the blonde’s abdomen, he was vaguely disturbed that the kid’s jutsu had barely lost any form, even after shredding forty-five pounds of high-grade carbon-steel. No matter. This fight was over.
Tsurugi’s hand slammed into Naruto abdomen, directly over the seal on his stomach that kept the Kyuubi imprisoned. The sigil burned right through his orange jacket and bonded with his flesh directly on top of the Yondaime’s seal. Stunned, Naruto jumped back from his opponent. He was surprised to note the man do the same. Tsurugi stood there, not at all concerned about the loss of his sword. In fact, he seemed rather smug that he landed that one blow.
‘What the hell is this guy waiting for?’ the genin wondered.
A sudden jolt in his stomach caused Naruto to look down at the wicked looking mark on his abdomen. A queasy lurching feeling rippled through his guts.
“What the-”
“What’s that? That feeling… That sigil… It looks familiar…No! A demon seal! But how? Damnation! Boy! Boy, listen to me! Let out all of my chakra! Burn it all off now! You have to do it now! Boy! Do you hear me? We’re dead if you don’t get rid of it!”